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D&D 5e Critique | Identity Crisis

Dr whats his name

25,797 views

Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition has been around for ten years. In that time it's garnered critical reception from long-time fans and a new generation of tabletop enthusiasts. My question? is it worth all the hype?

Twitter:
https://x.com/starpencil13

Chapters:
0:00 prologue
12:44 housekeeping
15:02 Chapter 1 development of d&d 5e
28:11 Chapter 2 The system
30:39 2.1 The gameplay
1:01:52 2.2 The races
1:07:21 2.3 Martial Classes
1:22:39 The Half-Casters
1:30:21 Spell Casting In 5e
1:36:45 Full Casters
1:56:53 Classes Conclusion
1:59:17 2.4 Progression
2:02:29 2.5 Personality and Background
2:06:40 The System Conclusion
2:08:45 Chapter 3 Combat
2:47:54 Chapter 4 The GM Side
3:06:50 4.1 The Books
3:13:28 4.2 Advantage and Bounded Accuracy
3:23:57 4.3 Items and Economy
3:31:18 4.4 CR
3:40:11 The GM Side Conclusion
3:48:51 Pillar 3 Exploration
4:01:57 Chapter 5 Half-Steps
4:08:10 5.1 The Artificer
4:14:14 5.2 That Takes Us To Now
4:18:46 Chapter 6 Legacy
4:21:27 6.1 The Critical Role Effect
4:25:34 6.2 Change
4:31:59 7 Conclusion: The Identity Problem

Archived footage:
2012 Gen Con Keynote Address: 2012 Gen Con Keynote Address
2012 The Future of D&D Panel at PAX East: The Future of D&D Panel at PAX East 2012
2007 D&D 4e Announcement from Gen Con: D&D 4e Announcement from Gen Con 2007

Sources:
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition players handbook
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition dungeon masters guide
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition monster manual
Dungeons and Dragons Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything
Dungeons and Dragons Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Legends and Lore blog (now archived available here https://web.archive.org/web/201307232...)
Designers & Dragons the 90s by Shannon Appelcline
NYtimes https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/ar...
Other sources are either mentioned in the video or available upon request.

Music used:
he Heart Of The Land (Tavern Theme 2)
Brevoy Folk Melody (Tavern Theme 1)
Tavern- The Alliance (Lion's Pride)
Cloak and Dagger
Nightsong
Sunset At The Dunsward
Nightsong
Moonwood
Kaer Morhen
Mechagon Tinkmaster
Icewind Dale
The Pirate's Isle_01
The Brass Fortress
07. Why Do You Need Two Swords
Tavern Music
Hills Of Glenebon
Quest For a Cure
City Gates
The Inn
Peaceful Lands
Castaways (Изгнанники)
A Brief Respite (Camp Theme)
Elwynn Forest
Sub Comical 1
For Honor! For Toussaint!
Mr Libido
Encampment
Hinterlands
The Path to the Door
Character Edit
The Restless Town
Main Title (Planescape: Torment)
Shop - Shin Megami Tensei (Super Famicom version)
Relax and Reflect
Hammerhead
Flashing Blades, Banners Unfurled
Help Wanted
Final Fantasy I NES - Main Theme
Final Fantasy I NES- Town
Dungeon Nature 01
Cape Caem
Bros on the Road
Any Special Orders (Nico’s Shop)
Elwynn Forest
Goldshire
Capital of the Taurens
Fey In The Hills (Tavern Theme 3)
Bonus - Credits (Planescape: Torment)
Rito Village
Greenpath
Finding Sein
First Steps into Sunken Glades
Cafe Florida
Homesickness
Final Fantasy XV CINDY Theme

#dungeonsanddragons #review #ttrpg #dnd #dnd5e #baldursgate3 #D&D #DandD #analysis #videoessays #longformanalysis #honoramongthieves #tabletopgaming #D&D5e

20 Comments

@starpencil Creator 1 year ago (edited) Pinned

Thank you all so much for all the incredible support, I never thought this video would do as well as it has so far and I genuinely cannot thank you guys enough. I've waited a couple of weeks for some more comments to point out a few things and I wanted to create a pinned with a few corrections or addendums. I'll edit this as needed.

1. Joseph Batten was an awful person. I never thought my very brief explanation of this topic would have this many comments about it but here we are. I decided I did not want to cover the full series of events in detail to maintain the tone of the video, the story of 4e acts as set up for my critique of 5e and not an extensive breakdown of a tragic loss of life at the hands of a mad man.

2. Correction Pathfinder didn't outsell 4e in the first few years. I am merely a single man working backward uncovering a history that's hidden away in archives of forums and tweets. After reading through the Chris S. Sims tweets and Alphastream I see what ya'll are talking about now but I'd argue that the long-term impact and lifetime sales of the system matter more than the short-term. Pathfinder went on to sell more than 4e. That is a fact, simply because it was on the market longer.

3. 2:10:35 Yeah unsure how I got this. I must've been re-reading through one of the books to make sure I had everything right and miss interrupted. While there is no dedicated round for surprise you could easily run combat this way and little to nothing would be affected or changed. Unless enemies have alert or some other specialized ability the entire player party will be acting before the enemies, hence a surprise round.

Thanks again for watching, I try to check the comments when I have some spare time. If you have any questions or want any clarification reply here or tweet at me. Reminder to keep things civil, please.

@bobertson_jr 1 year ago

Absolutely honored to help with this monumental project by having my Eberron copy appear for 46 frames, incredible video and honestly hope there's more to come!

@Pobafett 1 year ago (edited)

“5th edition failed the DM”.
100% agree. I found the materials at hand in 4th edition much more comprehensive to build and run encounters and adventures.
5th edition focuses on making the characters super heroes and gives DMs little in the way to build encounters and adventures that keep players interested.

There’s so many YouTube videos for DMs that help them run games, despite the lack of detailed rules in the DMG. And there’s an equal amount of videos showing players how to exploit the rules and deliver knock out attacks.

But then I am an exasperated DM, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. 3:48:30

@dragonflight2468 1 year ago

> Tried to make their own VTT
> Tried to revoke ogl

Man, the more things change the more they stay the same.

@knightochan-official 1 year ago

One thing I'll point out is that in oldschool style games, combat goes even faster than in 5e. Low health pools and group initiative make it a snappy punctuation to exploration, which has many more rules

@appleseed8282 1 year ago (edited)

10:30
Quick correction: the common wisdom that Pathfinder outsold 4e is actually a (fairly recently debunked) myth.
Theres an article going over it on Alphastream, but essentially: the metric was based off a survey that didn't really cover all the places RPGs get bought, focusing more on brick and morter Hobby shops.
But former employees from WotC and Paizo have come out in recent years expressing that 4e had always sold better, Pathfinder just kept a better reputation among the TTRPG Hardcore and gathered more third party support (primarily due to the GSL just not being good to Third Party for).

@jimb3566 1 year ago

ah yes, it’s about time my YouTube recommendations got their shit together

@TheDocAstaroth 1 year ago

Thank you very much for the effort to make this video audio-only friendly. It is not just good for people, who want to have something running in the background, but for blind people, too.

@ZanityProductions 1 year ago (edited)

3E: I like to put unnecessary pressure on the DM.
5E: My hatred for the DM knows no bounds.
4E: I love the DM with all my heart.

@user-wo5dm8ci1g 1 year ago (edited)

I DMed a bit on 3.5 and then pathfinder (1). Then I played a wacky homebrew 5e, and thought the advantage/disadvantage system and leveling simplicity seemed neat, so I decide to run a campaign in it. Then I ran headfirst into the "Figure it out" wall, where every fight felt boring and unsatisfying or just game ending, and I constantly had to make homebrew judgements about rules that would come back to bite me.

Well, eventually I did figure it out. I figured out that Pathfinder 2 actually gives a shit about DMs and gives them solid tools to make prep and play a breeze. I don't want to spend hundreds of hours learning to home-brew the other half of a game. I just wanna play around in a fun fantasy game with my friends, and I'm very glad to have a system that provides a nice balance.

The thing that really did me in, mentioned in the video: the ship combat rules provided in Spelljammer. In the first ship encounter in the provided campaign, the enemy ship chases, closing at only 15m per turn. Balistas onboard have a 480 range. That means like 25-30 turns of literally nothing but "shoot balista" actions, rules as written. I couldn't have designed a worse ship combat system if I tried. If I have to replace all their content with homebrew stuff to make it even work... what even is the point of buying their books anyways?

@matel4692 1 year ago

Dang, talk about a high-effort video. This deserves way more views!
Great stuff man

@bonzwah1 1 year ago

There’s a common misconception that proficiency dice variant rule makes the game more random. It does increase the width of the range of possible outcomes, but it actually weights the probability of outcome towards the mean outcome. In other words, it makes extreme results less likely.
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For example if you roll 1d20+1d8, half of all of your rolls will fall between 11 and 18. (The middle 50th percentile has a range of 8)
In comparison when rolling 1d20+5 half of your rolls will fall between 10 and 20 (middle 50th percentile has a range of 11).
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Its kinda like how flipping a coin once is very very random. But flipping a coin 100 times is a lot less random.
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So every additional die that is involved in a particular roll makes extreme results less and less likely. Most people would call this “less random”. This will actually make planning tactical outcomes MORE consistent, not less.

@InsightCheck 1 year ago (edited)

A 5 hour video about my favourite game? Sign me up. The longest video I’ve ever made is barely over 30 minutes and that took forever. Honestly dude, just the length of this alone is worth congratulating you on before I’ve even seen it!
Sub number 92! Let’s go :)

@KingSpectre844 1 month ago

The algorithm has blessed me this day.

@PuritanProdcutions 2 years ago

This is so surreal to listen to a video essay like this by someone I know in real life and am close friends with, because it’s the same quality as all those other ones.

Boy did a damn good job

@TheCosmere64 1 year ago

Wow this video is so well made, I didn't realise you only had 171 subscribers. You deserve way more to match your level of quality. Glad to be here, love it and your delivery

@Mutant_Bubba 1 year ago

I'm happy the algorithm brought me this. I'm absolutely a listener of long multi-hour documentary style videos. They get me through the workday. I've subscribed and you deserve way more subs!

@elementzero3379 1 year ago

Epic undertaking! Well done, sir!

I don't agree with every single take across 5 hours, and it would be weird if I did. However, your reasoning and balanced presentation are unimpeachable. I have a feeling people will be sharing this video far into the future, years from now when we're looking back on 5e.